The September 9th Music event – Rumors and Expectations

September 9th, 2009

The event will be hosted in the same location as last year, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and will begin at 10am pacific daylight time.

The company is widely expected to update its iPod line, including a new 3rd generation iPod Touch with an updated processor and more ram to match the recently unveiled iPhone 3G S. Updated models of the iPod Nano and iPod Classic are also likely. As the Shuffle was updated with a new design in March of this year, a new model is not expected, though an increase in storage capacity would be welcome.

iTunes will no doubt be receiving an update to support the new hardware, and Apple is expected to release a 64-bit version of the application for the Mac to complement the recently released Snow Leopard operating system. Rumors have been flying that this will be iTunes version 9, and will include social media functionality of some kind to connect users Facebook or Twitter accounts to Apples premiere media application.

However, the iPod Touch will certainly be the center of attention at the event, and recent rumors about the new 3rd generation Touch include the addition of a camera, GPS functionality, and the oleophobic screen found on the iPhone 3G S. The addition of both a camera and GPS functionality would enable Touch owners to geotag photos taken with the device, allowing applications like iPhoto to organize a users photographs based on location.

With the release of a new iPod Touch we can expect a new build of iPhone OS as well, and the development roadmap for iPhone OS 3.1 would seem to match up perfectly for a September 9th release, as Apple has been seeding betas of the new version since late June.

The Nano is also claimed to be receiving a camera. Evidence for such a device has been supported with spy shots, aftermarket cases and manufacturing leaks. The Classic has also been a part of the pervasive camera rumor, but at the same time others have claimed the Classic will finally be put to rest thanks to increases in the storage capacity of their leading model, the iPod Touch.

There has also been a widespread rumor that the September 9th event will be the big day for a long awaited deal for the Beatles music catalog to come to the iTunes Store. Other less likely rumors include the addition of DVD ripping functionality to iTunes, the release of the long awaited Apple Tablet, and support for Blu-Ray playback on Mac OS X.